MIES (Switzerland) – The ninth season of the Basketball Champions League entered its fourth week, and there were plenty of highlights on a five-game Tuesday evening across the continent. This is what we learned last night.

Dario Gjergja in the 100s

Back in 2001, a 26-year-old from Zadar took on the job of assistant coach at Zagreb, the city’s second best-club at that moment. While they were on the rise, the city’s biggest club was starting to lose its dominant ways and had to find some new energy for the future.

In 2003, the by then 28-year-old from Zadar joined coach Drazen Anzulovic at Cibona, and the pairing connected so deeply in terms of basketball ideology that they stayed at the club for four years, spent another season together at Ural Great Perm, and one more at Spirou Charleroi in Belgium.

That’s when the, by then 34-year-old from Zadar, decided it was time to embark on his solo journey. He called the plays for Liege for two seasons, but then it was time to part ways, because when there’s a match made in heaven, it’s just a matter of time.

Dario Gjergja, the 36-year-old from Zadar, was announced as Filou Oostende’s head coach in December 2011. He went on to lead the team to their first Belgian League championship in five years, and the entire club went, “hey, this is a good idea,” so they remained faithful to Gjergja, and he fell in love with the club and the city so much so, he’s still there.

A whole 13 league titles in a row later, the 49-year-old from Zadar is still reaching milestones. On Tuesday, he became only the second coach in the history of the Basketball Champions League to coach 100 games.

“The most important thing about the 100 games [milestone] is that they are all at the same club. This means that people in my organization believe in me, that they stayed behind me, and I give them big credit and I thank them for this chance to promote our team in Europe,” he said after his team’s win in Poland on Tuesday night.

Oostende picked up their first win of the season, Gjergja’s 45th in the BCL, climbed to a 1-2 record, got the break, and now get a set-point on their serve, as King Szczecin have to travel to Belgium next, meaning the Belgian champs could complete the sweep and all but confirm their spot in the Play-Ins.

La Laguna Tenerife’s Txus Vidorreta is up to 126 games in his BCL career, so Gjergja will not catch up with him, at least not this season. But the two of them standing at the top of the coaching mountain together means something, as they are clear symbols of what coaching longevity and stability can achieve for any club.

Quick notes on the Tuesday games

• UCAM Murcia won their game by a margin of 36 points (86-50 vs. FMP SoccerBet), their biggest win ever in the competition. They have given up fewer points in a BCL game only twice: 47 vs. Igokea in November 2023 and 47 vs. MHP RIESEN Ludwigsburg in January 2019.

• ERA Nymburk have won their first three games in a BCL season only for the second time in their eight campaigns in the competition (also W3 in 2019-20). They reached the Final Eight back in 2020.

• Filou Oostende scored 54 points off the bench, the most for them in a BCL game since November 2020 when they had 56 points off the bench against San Pablo Burgos.

• Martynas Echodas scored 19 points for Manisa Basket, his BCL high since December 2020 when he had 20 points for Rytas Vilnius. He has now scored more than 10 points in each of his last seven appearances in the competition, a joint-longest run for him in the BCL.

• With three steals, ERA Nymburk’s Jaromir Bohacik has now come up with multiple steals in back-to-back games for the first time in his 70 games in the BCL; this is also his second game in the competition with 16+ points and 8+ rebounds (19pts, 8reb).

• Niv Misgav of Hapoel Netanel Holon dished out a BCL career-high 11 assists against Igokea m:tel, in his 40th game in the BCL.

• Terrell Carter of Igokea m:tel registered his first double-double in his 17 appearances in the BCL, tallying 13 points and 11 rebounds; he also blocked 3 shots, his second highest tally in a BCL game (he had 4 with SL Benfica against Galatasaray last season).

• Simon Birgander of UCAM Murcia grabbed 10 rebounds in only 13 minutes and 13 seconds on the floor – the least playing time ever for any player with 10 or more rebounds in a BCL game.